ELIZABTETH JACKSON: A new diagnostic tool pioneered by Queensland doctors is set to dramatically improve the efficiency of hospital emergency departments across the country.

The focus is on patients with chest pain who fear they might be having a heart attack.

It's the most common reason people go to hospital and often their concerns are unwarranted, but regardless, they end up in hospital for hours on end.

Donna Field explains.

DONNA FIELD: Every year, more than 7 million Australians rush to emergency departments, many fearing a heart attack.

The traditional approach is several tests, hours of waiting, more tests and often an overnight admission to ensure there's no risk.

Dr Terry George runs the emergency department at Nambour Hospital on the Sunshine Coast.

TERRY GEORGE: Chest pain's very common presenting problem in the emergency department, and the great majority of the patients aren't going to have a serious cause. And it's very frustrating for everyone when they need to stay in hospital for a long period of time just trying to safely rule out a cardiac condition.

Cardiologist, Professor Will Parsonage, says his team has pioneered a new fast-track diagnostic tool.

WILL PARSONAGE: We were able to rule out a heart attack with a very high degree of accuracy, and then also followed them up and showed that they were at a very low risk of having any sort of adverse outcome.

DONNA FIELD: The diagnostic tool doesn't involve a new test or fancy machine - just a different framework for doctors to work with.

Professor Parsonage says one in five cases is fast-tracked.

WILL PARSONAGE: So really just using all the same tools that we had before, but compressing the timeframe, putting it all together in a different way, and that way we can, as I say, very accurately, very close to 100 per cent accuracy, identify this group of people who were at very low risk.

DONNA FIELD: At Nambour Hospital, 2,000 patients have been put through a trial.

Dr George says there have been big benefits.

TERRY GEORGE: It decongests the department, which creates extra space for the next group of patients to come in. It means that we don't have patients in the corridor, we don't have ambulances queued up in the corridor.

DONNA FIELD: At a time when there's enormous pressure on health budgets, the Queensland government has welcomed the research.

It's rolling out the program across the state at a cost of $1 million.

The projected savings are $10 million every year.

The Heart Foundation is currently reviewing its national guidelines for coronary care in all Australian hospitals and says it will be taking the research into account.